Put off KCET date as it clashes with Good Friday: Ivan D’Souza

Bengaluru: The demand from Kerala students, who have registered for the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) 2025 to reschedule the dates following the Good Friday festival clashing with one examination date, came up for discussion in the Legislative Council on Tuesday.

Congress member Ivan D’Souza raised the issue during Zero Hour and demanded the Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar to postpone the examination dates considering that the KCET dates clash with Good Friday. KCET 2025 is scheduled to be held on April 16, 17 and 18.

D’Souza said, “Despite knowing that it is a government holiday on Good Friday, the officials have finalised KCET dates. Good Friday is an important festival for the Christian community, and it is celebrated for the whole week. The higher education minister should consider this and change the examination dates.”

As Dr Sudhakar was not present in the Council, the Leader of the House assured of getting a reply from the minister.

Meanwhile, the data available from the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) reveals that a minimal number of students registered for the Kannada examination conducted for Gadinadu-Horanadu Kannadiga students on April 18 (Good Friday).

As per the data, of the total 2537 students registered for the Kannada test, 115 belong to the Christian community.

“As the second PUC examinations have been scheduled till March 20 and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (Neet) scheduled on May 4, the dates we have announced now are very comfortable in the interest of students from Karnataka and as we have already made preparations to conduct exams on the scheduled dates, it is not suggested to postpone,” said a senior official of KEA.